The Bruins have scored four goals in four games, while the Red Wings have scored four in two games.

"Got to start scoring more goals. Just got to keep working. You're not going to win scoring one goal," Boston right wing Reilly Smith said. "… We're planning on going to the net harder. That's how you have to score goals; jam the puck to the net and get rebounds."

Detroit has possessed the puck more than its opponents, out-shot the opposition and has generated a lot of chances, but only has the four goals to show for it. That includes a 2-1 win against the Bruins at Joe Louis Arena last Thursday.

Boston got a little help with the signing of veteran left wing Simon Gagne on Tuesday to a one-year, $600,000 contract. He had been with the Bruins during training camp on a professional tryout contract and continued to practice with them after the start of the regular season.

Gagne, 34, sat out all of last season. He's a two-time 40-goal scorer, and has 288 goals and 597 points in 799 games in 13 NHL seasons.

"He's a smart player. I can put him in pressure situations because he's been around," Boston coach Claude Julien said.

Gagne was happy to be preparing for an NHL regular-season game.

"It's special. Not only to have the chance to play," he said. "After a year sitting at home and watching on TV and not being able to play last year; it's been almost a year and a half."

Each team lost on a late goal in its previous game.

The Colorado Avalanche's Daniel Briere scored with 0.4 seconds left in the third period to beat Boston 2-1 on Monday at TD Garden, and Ryan Getzlaf's goal with 24 seconds remaining gave the Anaheim Ducks a 3-2 win against the Red Wings on Saturday at Joe Louis Arena.

"Boston and us have both lost games in the last second recently," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "Both teams really need wins. It should be fun."

"We have a really close bond and a good friendship, but brothers will be brothers and there with it comes the razzing," Brendan said. "It was a good time living with him. We worked out together and it was fun."

Reilly said they give each other assistance … until a certain point.

"We help each other out until we start playing together and then we're trying to get every advantage we can," he said. "We usually grab dinner the night before we play each other, but there's definitely not too much talk about game plans when we're together."

Status report: Detroit has won eight of its past nine regular-season games against Boston, which beat the Red Wings in five games in the first round of last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs. … Howard is 5-1-0 with a 1.97 goals-against average and .934 save percentage against the Bruins in six career regular-season games. … Nyquist, with a goal in each of the Red Wings' first two games, will play on the first line with Zetterberg and Franzen. He replaces Abdelkader, who moves to the third line with Helm and Nestrasil. … Because of Boston's lack of offense, Griffith, a second-year pro, was called up before the game Monday and will play on the first line with Krejci and Lucic.

Who's hot: Abdelkader has a goal and an assist and Franzen has three assists for Detroit. … Smith and Bergeron each have a goal and an assist for Boston.